Monitoring neurons

To monitor neuronal network activity, neuronal network information is published to a robot topic that is used for display purposes instead of being used by the robot. Thus, monitoring information can be specified using the normal TF mechanisms.

However, since it is a very common task, the BIBI Configuration also provides a convenient shortcut for such monitoring tasks, namely a special Neuron2Robot TF called Neuron2Monitor. To specify a monitor with this shortcut, users only have to insert the following code to monitor the activity of a neuron:

<transferFunction xsi:type="Neuron2Monitor" name="left_wheel_neuron_monitor">
  <device name="left_wheel_neuron" type="PopulationRate">
    <neurons xsi:type="Index" population="actors" index="0"/>
  </device>
</transferFunction>

This specification is enough to create a TF that will take the population rate of the neuron responsible for the left wheel motor and send it to a special monitoring topic that is used by the frontend.

Unlike other TFs, monitoring TFs may only specify exactly one device channel and any body if present is ignored. However, it is possible to connect the device channel with multiple neurons.